NEWS ALERT****Marvin Gaye is the subject of tonight's American Masters episode on PBS so if you want to get lucky, tune in. While I won't be getting lucky, I will still be tuning in so don't call me between 9 - 10pm.
Directly before Marvin, there will be a Secrets of the Dead episode on the past East German practice of doping their Olympic athletes. The trailer states that the show will review "the impact such practices may have had on the athletes". Hmm, if the show is called Secrets of the Dead, I think I may know what the impact was/is. I'm not sure that I'd be comfortable being on a show with a title like that. It's as if everyone else knows something you don't.
This is the time of year when I start to get my years mixed up. It's budget entry time at work which means I'll be working on fiscal year '09 stuff which starts in July of '08. People also start mentioning things about "next year" but they mean fiscal year '10 which will probably be too much for my brain to handle causing me to incorrectly date my checks at the grocery store.
Speaking of money, it's also book-buyback time at the U so I'm going to go now to hopefully get a tidy sum for the books I didn't use for the class I canceled this semester. If it turns out well, it means I'll get to see the Punch Out! shows AND the Vilification Tennis show AND Rockstar Storytellers AND the Neutrino project (I finally spelled that right). Wish me luck.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Cavellaria Rusticana Intermezzo
Not that I especially want to harp on a horrible story, but that hunting accident in Belle Plaine where the father shot his son, man what a horrible story. The Fox9 news flashed a bit of the video from that scene and I caught a quick glimpse of a sheriff throwing a duffel bag at a truck. Rather than putting the duffel bag in the truck to be transported away, or even tossing it underhanded hoping it would land inside the truck, he threw it hard at the backend and it kind of fell to the ground. You could tell that he was angry. That must have been a horrible scene to be at. The law enforcement on the scene most likely would have been hunters themselves because if you live in or near Belle Plaine, that's pretty much what you do if your not eating or sleeping. After hearing the story, they were probably starting to form some opinions on how it could have been avoided. I have no idea if you ever can really get used to seeing dead bodies but I think the little dead bodies are the toughest to deal with.
One of my friend's brother, Brian is a MN State Highway Patrol. He's always been a Clint Eastwood-type of person; doesn't ever really smile or laugh, is very serious about what he's doing, nothing will get through his tough exterior, etc. etc. There was one particular highway accident where the car was on fire. They pulled the driver out, who was already dead, and as they were putting the fire out they saw that the baby was still in the car crunched under the front dashboard. They had no idea he was there. There was no one alive that could have told them he was there and he probably died on impact anyway but it was still a huge shock to see him there. That's been the only time in almost ten years that Brian cracked. He called his mom and talked for hours after that one.
I know a guy who shot his son in a hunting accident. It happened many years ago and I don't know the details. You may expect that he would be this crumpled up shell of a person but that's not how he is. He smiles all the time and laughs at everything, really loudly. He drinks all the time but he's not a fall-down, mean drunk; it just makes him tell more funny stories and laugh louder. I have no idea what's going on in the inside, but from observing the outside, you'd never would be able to guess what had happened. His doctor gave up trying to make him quit drinking and instead gave him the advice to drink whiskey or scotch. If you're going to hit the hard stuff regularly, those are the best two options for you. Any clear liquor will rip your insides apart and give you massive hangovers. I think it's because the sugar content is higher but I'm not sure about that. I haven't really delved into the topic.
I was going to try to forget about this stuff before I got to work a block from my office, I saw a huge tom turkey just strutting down the sidewalk all puffed up. He was quite impressive. If I were a female turkey, I'd try to snag him.
One of my friend's brother, Brian is a MN State Highway Patrol. He's always been a Clint Eastwood-type of person; doesn't ever really smile or laugh, is very serious about what he's doing, nothing will get through his tough exterior, etc. etc. There was one particular highway accident where the car was on fire. They pulled the driver out, who was already dead, and as they were putting the fire out they saw that the baby was still in the car crunched under the front dashboard. They had no idea he was there. There was no one alive that could have told them he was there and he probably died on impact anyway but it was still a huge shock to see him there. That's been the only time in almost ten years that Brian cracked. He called his mom and talked for hours after that one.
I know a guy who shot his son in a hunting accident. It happened many years ago and I don't know the details. You may expect that he would be this crumpled up shell of a person but that's not how he is. He smiles all the time and laughs at everything, really loudly. He drinks all the time but he's not a fall-down, mean drunk; it just makes him tell more funny stories and laugh louder. I have no idea what's going on in the inside, but from observing the outside, you'd never would be able to guess what had happened. His doctor gave up trying to make him quit drinking and instead gave him the advice to drink whiskey or scotch. If you're going to hit the hard stuff regularly, those are the best two options for you. Any clear liquor will rip your insides apart and give you massive hangovers. I think it's because the sugar content is higher but I'm not sure about that. I haven't really delved into the topic.
I was going to try to forget about this stuff before I got to work a block from my office, I saw a huge tom turkey just strutting down the sidewalk all puffed up. He was quite impressive. If I were a female turkey, I'd try to snag him.
Monday, May 5, 2008
pancakespancakespancakes
What do you think would happen if I were to use waffle batter as if it were a pancake? Do you suppose it's the squishing action of the waffle iron that cooks it through? If I just pour it on a griddle will it get burned on one side and stay in liquid form on the other side? What if I cover it while it's on the griddle? See, I like the taste of waffles but I really don't feel like hauling the iron down and making the first "test" waffle to get the iron all warmed up. Really though, I just want someone to make them for me. Which brings me back to the original conundrum of which "original" pancake house to go to.
This is what hunger does to you
I want pancakes. Right now. You know what sucks about that? I have no way of getting them right now.
Did you know that there are four Original Pancake Houses in the Minneapolis area? Which one is the real original? How can there be four originals? It reminds me of that Dire Straits song "Industrial Disease" - "two men say their Jesus, one of them must be wrong".
Why can't there be a good diner open after 3pm? Perkins and Denny's don't count. The Denny's off of 394 and Louisiana Ave. would have counted except that it's not open anymore. That's where they filmed part of Fargo. I liked that restaurant because they made a killer tuna melt. Now I kind of want a tuna melt. No, no, pancakes...I want pancakes.
Did you know that there are four Original Pancake Houses in the Minneapolis area? Which one is the real original? How can there be four originals? It reminds me of that Dire Straits song "Industrial Disease" - "two men say their Jesus, one of them must be wrong".
Why can't there be a good diner open after 3pm? Perkins and Denny's don't count. The Denny's off of 394 and Louisiana Ave. would have counted except that it's not open anymore. That's where they filmed part of Fargo. I liked that restaurant because they made a killer tuna melt. Now I kind of want a tuna melt. No, no, pancakes...I want pancakes.
Chinga ching ching
Holy smokes. I'm a little sore. My calves no longer like me and are reminding me of this every time I attempt to use them. There were 15 hours of dance classes over the weekend I'm a little disappointed to say that I only made it through ten; although, that's really not bad. I missed Sunday morning because I was too frickin' tired and I fell asleep in front of the TV watching The Professional. Jean Reno's voice will lull me to sleep every time. I wonder if that happens to a lot of women and if he finds that irritating?
This was the first workshop so I wouldn't expect everything to work out well, but I have to say I was more than a bit miffed at the fact that the entire weekend was being recorded except for Cassandra's workshop. Cassandra obviously didn't agree to be taped and she also bought her own boom box for her music which I actually think was a good idea since she knew exactly how to control it. She's an extremely good teacher and phenomenal dancer who got totally screwed during her performance but I'll get to that in a minute.
Everything else was taped and this presented a problem because of the camera angles. There were three cameras set up in the middle of the floor which cut off a large chunk of the floor area in front of the stage where the instructors were. The boundary lines were marked with sweat jackets laying on the floor. If someone moved the jacket thinking it was accidentally left there, they were reprimanded and told it was to stay there so no one steps in the way of the camera. We weren't allowed to step into the neutral zone of flying ions because it would interfere with the capture of the moment of which we were paying $200 to attend. So what ended up happening you ask? Well, let me tell you. We were all scrunched into the back half of the room and poured a bit over on the sides of the stage and had to stop to switch places every so often so the people along the back wall could get a chance to see the footwork. So, to summarize, I spent $200 to be squished into a room where I couldn't see everything but if I want to see what I missed with my $200 I can buy the dvd for another $45.
The show on Saturday night was very good though and I'm happy to report it was included in the $200. It went pretty long, about 2 1/2 hours, but I got a chance to see really good dancers perform several times. Cassandra is our own little living legend of American Middle Eastern dancers. Getting a chance to see her is kind of like having Michael Jordan shoot hoops in your driveway. I even moved up to the edge of my seat for the event. It started out well but then her music started to pause....and then come back....and then pause....and then come back...and then skip...and continue on like this for her whole performance. She dealt with it very very well but at the end made a hasty retreat out the back door. The tech guy then stepped up and apologized because the download of her CD to his laptop apparently didn't go well.
I'm not quite certain that this could all be put on him because earlier in the afternoon, I overheard Cassandra talking to the organizer saying "Well now you're not going to get my music until right before I go on. If I'm going on later in the show, I watch the other performances and then decide which dance I will do". This is all fine and dandy if you've worked with the equipment before and know for certain that everything will work well. Instead, the artistic process and modern technology rammed together like the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm except with way more sequins.
Aliyah Sahar (Leslie Kennedy) and her group performed the most and the drunk woman sitting next to me didn't clap for them at all. Okay, that's fine, this is America and you don't have to clap if you don't want to but truthfully I was just waiting for one little snide remark (slur, whatever) and I was going to punch her. I can be fiercely loyal at times.
I turned the furnace off yesterday. If it gets cold and I have to turn it back on, I'm going to punch the air.
This was the first workshop so I wouldn't expect everything to work out well, but I have to say I was more than a bit miffed at the fact that the entire weekend was being recorded except for Cassandra's workshop. Cassandra obviously didn't agree to be taped and she also bought her own boom box for her music which I actually think was a good idea since she knew exactly how to control it. She's an extremely good teacher and phenomenal dancer who got totally screwed during her performance but I'll get to that in a minute.
Everything else was taped and this presented a problem because of the camera angles. There were three cameras set up in the middle of the floor which cut off a large chunk of the floor area in front of the stage where the instructors were. The boundary lines were marked with sweat jackets laying on the floor. If someone moved the jacket thinking it was accidentally left there, they were reprimanded and told it was to stay there so no one steps in the way of the camera. We weren't allowed to step into the neutral zone of flying ions because it would interfere with the capture of the moment of which we were paying $200 to attend. So what ended up happening you ask? Well, let me tell you. We were all scrunched into the back half of the room and poured a bit over on the sides of the stage and had to stop to switch places every so often so the people along the back wall could get a chance to see the footwork. So, to summarize, I spent $200 to be squished into a room where I couldn't see everything but if I want to see what I missed with my $200 I can buy the dvd for another $45.
The show on Saturday night was very good though and I'm happy to report it was included in the $200. It went pretty long, about 2 1/2 hours, but I got a chance to see really good dancers perform several times. Cassandra is our own little living legend of American Middle Eastern dancers. Getting a chance to see her is kind of like having Michael Jordan shoot hoops in your driveway. I even moved up to the edge of my seat for the event. It started out well but then her music started to pause....and then come back....and then pause....and then come back...and then skip...and continue on like this for her whole performance. She dealt with it very very well but at the end made a hasty retreat out the back door. The tech guy then stepped up and apologized because the download of her CD to his laptop apparently didn't go well.
I'm not quite certain that this could all be put on him because earlier in the afternoon, I overheard Cassandra talking to the organizer saying "Well now you're not going to get my music until right before I go on. If I'm going on later in the show, I watch the other performances and then decide which dance I will do". This is all fine and dandy if you've worked with the equipment before and know for certain that everything will work well. Instead, the artistic process and modern technology rammed together like the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm except with way more sequins.
Aliyah Sahar (Leslie Kennedy) and her group performed the most and the drunk woman sitting next to me didn't clap for them at all. Okay, that's fine, this is America and you don't have to clap if you don't want to but truthfully I was just waiting for one little snide remark (slur, whatever) and I was going to punch her. I can be fiercely loyal at times.
I turned the furnace off yesterday. If it gets cold and I have to turn it back on, I'm going to punch the air.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Whaaaaaaaaaaaz aaaaaaaaap??!!
FRIDAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!! Ahh. We should all take this time to enjoy what we have now because apparently we're all going to contract the measles and starve to death because we're using all of the corn for ethanol leaving NOTHING for food (those fucking farmers) and no one will be able to come over and help us because we're spending money on barrels filled with pork which will cause all of the bridges to collapse. I'm going to stop watching the news.
My doctor is taking belly dancing lessons from the same people I am. How's that for a coincidence? I wasn't sure how to spell coincidence so I guessed and lo! and behold! I was right. Anyhoo, we got into a conversation about belly dancing which greatly increased her average amount of time per patient ratio so now she'll have to shorten someone else's time to make up for it. I'm fine with that.
My cholesterol is just fine so I guess that chili dog didn't have nearly the impact I thought it would. Great, when's lunch?
My doctor is taking belly dancing lessons from the same people I am. How's that for a coincidence? I wasn't sure how to spell coincidence so I guessed and lo! and behold! I was right. Anyhoo, we got into a conversation about belly dancing which greatly increased her average amount of time per patient ratio so now she'll have to shorten someone else's time to make up for it. I'm fine with that.
My cholesterol is just fine so I guess that chili dog didn't have nearly the impact I thought it would. Great, when's lunch?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Duck
It seems that in this slowing economy, part time jobs are getting a bit hard to come by. That and those pesky little students are hogging all of the front-end jobs. I may have to resort to creative marketing to make my application stand out which then may make me resort to memorable interview techniques which will then make me question how much my credit card debt really bothers me.
It's getting to be graduation time around here. This means an increased volume in people's indoor voices and an increase in sloughing off on Northrup mall. Crossing that mall area can also be quite dangerous. Make sure you look out for flying frisbee's, hackys, books, hippies, and sidewalk preachers. Students get a little punchy when they get close to the end.
I'm taking a belly dance workshop this weekend where five extremely talented dancers will teach me how to do all sorts of cool things. I hope I'll be able to see well from my spot in the back row where I'll be camped out due to a slightly lowered level of self-esteem within a room of so many talented people but at least I'll learn something, right?
Here's a video of one of the instructors....she'll be teaching drum solo's....if I can do this at the end of the weekend my plans for total world domination will be complete.
It's getting to be graduation time around here. This means an increased volume in people's indoor voices and an increase in sloughing off on Northrup mall. Crossing that mall area can also be quite dangerous. Make sure you look out for flying frisbee's, hackys, books, hippies, and sidewalk preachers. Students get a little punchy when they get close to the end.
I'm taking a belly dance workshop this weekend where five extremely talented dancers will teach me how to do all sorts of cool things. I hope I'll be able to see well from my spot in the back row where I'll be camped out due to a slightly lowered level of self-esteem within a room of so many talented people but at least I'll learn something, right?
Here's a video of one of the instructors....she'll be teaching drum solo's....if I can do this at the end of the weekend my plans for total world domination will be complete.
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